Has Your City Cut Back on Credit Card Spending?

Spending less is the quickest way to boost your savings account, and some places in the US have shown a true change in habits since last year. In fact, the U.S. personal income savings rate increased to 6.9 percent from 0 percent the year before. That's good news for personal finances, and Forbes sought out to find the thriftiest cities in the country.

First, it used data from Equifax to determine the total credit card debt in each of the 50 largest metropolitan areas and calculated the average debt per household in each metro area. Then, it divided each metro's average debt per household by May 2009 median household income to determine the average percent of household income owed to credit card companies. To see the 10 cities where spenders have cut back from using credit cards the most, read more.